Thursday, September 2, 2010

Mommy Cha and the Kimchi KIDS?!

Hello everyone, Mommy Cha here again. I know, I know, I am an awful blogger. I am so sorry!! >.< I have a lovely draft blog post about family-friendly Bucheon I started last month, but I've been unable to continue with it. I have a very good excuse this time though-I swear! We're currently 8.5 weeks pregnant with baby #2! Yay! We heard the heartbeat and had a good checkup on Monday. All is well with baby and the due date is April 9th, 2010. I on the other hand am not doing so well. I came down with a terrible stomach virus 2.5 weeks ago and since then have been suffering greatly with morning, noon and night sickness! I've lost track of the days where I haven't vomited and my kindergarten gently suggested that I start my vacation time a few weeks early and rest. I'm hoping this means that baby #2 will be the much requested girl, but we really only hope for a healthy and happy baby, just like the original Kimchi Kid! We've tried to explain what is happening to the Kimchi Kid but the week after we told him about the baby in mommy's tummy, I got very sick with the stomach virus. He was then told by his daddy that mommy's tummy was "아프다", Korean for "hurt/pain". So the poor little guy thought the baby was hurting mommy's tummy and he wouldn't go to sleep for a few days without resting his hand or head on my tummy to comfort me! These days he seems to understand a bit better, but we're going to wait a bit more before getting into more discussion with him. We plan on taking him to the doctor's appointments with us in the future so he can see the baby on the ultrasound. With the Kimchi Kid we were clueless, anxious new parents and had ultrasounds performed every 2 weeks since our doctor was being overly cautious. We had no idea this wasn't the norm but will only have them every few months this time around. We've also learned that the Korean government provides a free credit card for prenatal visits, up to 300,000won($300) total. This will really help cover the cost of our checkups and is a nice incentive to try and increase the birthrate in South Korea. We can also get free multivitamins from the local municipal office, but I ordered from the USA instead. Too bad I keep vomiting them up, but hopefully this too will pass!

Playing in the water with Daddy, AKA "Tom teacher"!

Right now the Kimchi Kid is incredibly excited for our upcoming vacation to North America! The discovery of the long-awaited pregnancy plus my BIL's upcoming wedding to my close Korean friend(I set them up! How cool is that??) meant that we had to jump at the chance to take a trip and visit all the family. The Kimchi Kid and I have visited Austin, Texas to see the Korean family members the past two years. Last year my younger sister and nephew came to Korea to visit us, but we haven't been home to visit my family since he was 4months old. Since he is so different and wonderful now at 28 months, it is past due time to get home and visit! Not to mention that the new arrival next year will limit my ability to travel and visit for quite some time! The Kimchi Kid is already quite a fan of "비행기", airplane, and so we have been priming him with pictures and stories about airplanes. He is very excited to go and understands that he is traveling with mommy while daddy stays home for work. As he says "Mommy, Thomas, 비행기 같이(airplane together). Tom teacher, no! Stay home!"^.^ Hehehe..The Kimchi Kid is quite fond of calling his daddy "Tom" or "Tom teacher" since he teaches at the same kindergarten that our son attends and sees/hears the students refer to him as "Tom teacher" daily. We think it is very sweet that he understands daddy can't come because he has to be "Tom teacher" and work. We plan to take a family vacation for Christmas, hopefully somewhere warm, so that "Tom teacher" can get a break as well!

The Kimchi Kid has been making excellent language progress in both Korean and English and is comfortable speaking in both languages depending on whom he is speaking to. His teacher has a far better understanding of his Korean speech than we do as she is hearing it 5 days a week, 7 hours a day. Already his Korean has surpassed mine in certain areas but thankfully since we switched to pure English in the home, he has managed to become an excellent English speaker as well! He still mixes in Korean vocabulary on a regular basis but it is easy for us to understand. He also loves singing these days, and happily sings to himself in a mix of Korean and English. He has made a mash-up of the "Pororo Penguin" theme song as well as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "ABC". Heaven forbid if we try to sing along though, he will quickly tell us "NO! No singing PLEASE!". Such a little critic! ^.^ He has also almost mastered counting 1-10 in English and 1-5 in Korean. He will at times mix them up but it seems like the English numbers came easier to him. He happily points out and counts diggers, forklifts and other heavy machinery as we walk and drive around town. He is constantly surprising us with his keen observations, active interest and strong memories of the world around him. Every day he brings a smile to our faces as he shares some new discovery with us. We truly are blessed with happiness in our son!

It must be a male thing, being so comfortable on the toilet! ^.~

As for other developments, well the Kimchi Kid is 100% toilet trained and it happened so fast that I still have 1 1/2 cases of diapers in the house! He never wets the bed, is always vocal about needing to use the bathroom and except for 2 pooping in the park incidents things have been smooth sailing! The pooping the park came about when he had to GO and there was no toilets nearby. Thank goodness for bushes and borrowed wet tissue!

Mmm..yummy cake!

There is so much more he is doing these days that I constantly forget to write down! He feeds himself completely, even to the point of often helping himself to food and snacks in the house. He loves art and drawing and will happily sit and doodle on his own. He is a master block stacker and has become creative in making diggers, cranes and trains out of blocks. He has started to turn off the TV if something "Scary" comes on although so far this happens with 1 episode of "Pororo Penguin" and a dog scene in "The Fantastic Mr. Fox". He also managed to create his own "괴물" or monster out of a shape sorter that was arranged in a face pattern. It reminds him of the monster in "Pororo Penguin" and has caused tears more than once now! He walks so much we never use a carrier or stroller now, and have even walked more than 2km without him asking to be carried! He is such a happy and strong little boy, everywhere we go is surrounded with positive energy and interaction. No wonder he loves to go for long walks every evening! ^.^

Move over Jamie Oliver-The Kimchi Kid is the TRUE Naked Chef! ^.~

Since I am on vacation now and spending most of that time in bed, online or vomiting, I will do my best to keep the blog more regularly updated with stories about the Kimchi Kid. Thank you to everyone for your patience and hope to hear from and see you all soon!Much love, Mommy Cha and the Kimchi Kid! ^.~